So she sat and fidgeted, edgy and uncomfortable in this unknown territory. She could have asked Chee his opinion, but she wasn’t ready for it yet.
They rode in silence to Kayenta, where Chee turned on to US 160. They cruised east on a paved two-lane highway with no traffic signals, stop signs, cell service, or patrol cars, and plenty of scenery. Bernie studied the landscape as it rolled by, watching the first tinge of pink sunset brighten to brilliance and then fade again to soft gray. She turned on the radio and channel-surfed, finding only static. Turned it off again. Looked out the window until she could see the first pinpoints of starlight in the summer sky.
Chee broke the silence. “When Paul told me he could use some help, I didn’t realize how much.”
“Paul’s a nice guy, hard to say no to. It felt good to do something physical instead of sitting in my unit all day.”
“He told me how much he liked you. I mentioned that your sister was single and cute. I told him she was a strong girl, too. A good worker.”
“You didn’t!”
Chee laughed. “I didn’t. You think I should be a matchmaker?”
“Don’t you dare.” She moved closer to him, slipped off her shoes, and put her stockinged feet up on the seat beneath her. Chee wrapped his arm around her.
His phone rang from the center console, where he’d placed it along with his sunglasses. Bernie looked at the screen. “It’s Paul.” She answered and put it on speaker.
“So where are you guys? Guess I should have told you to get back before sunset.”
“Oh, man, I should have called you,” Chee said. “Bernie’s mother had an emergency and we had to drive back to Toadlena. I forgot to let you know.”
“It’s OK, bro. I would have canceled your tour anyway. The People Mover won’t start.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you can take a look.”
Chee asked more questions and they listened as Paul tried to define the problem.
“That sounds easy to fix.”
“I hope so,” Paul said. “Easy for you, anyway. I’m not great with this stuff.”
“You can do it. Take the phone outside, and I’ll walk you through it. First, open the hood and find the battery.”
They waited, and then Paul’s voice was back over the speaker. “Is there a latch or something? It doesn’t want to go up, man. Oh, wait, I got it now.”
Chee started to explain, but it soon became obvious that Paul needed more than a verbal map to discover the mysterious world beneath the hood of an aged vehicle. “Do you know somebody who’s good with cars?” There had to be a shade-tree mechanic in the Monument Valley community who could help him; living in out-of-the-way places bred self-sufficiency and cooperation.
“Yeah, sure, bro, but you are my go-to guy tonight. I’ll try doing what you say.”
“Good.”
“Speaking of good, here’s some good news. Outback Expeditions—that’s Ron Goodspring’s company—he called me after you and Bernie left for the movie. Ronnie’s got four people from Norway wanting a sunrise photo tour, and he can’t handle them. I just landed my first referral.” Paul talked in enticing detail about where he would take them—Skull Arch, Honeymoon Arch, House of Many Hands ruin. “We’ll probably stop so they can take pictures of horses on the sand dunes, too. When will you and Bernie get back?”
“I don’t know. Everything’s up in the air at this point. We’re not sure what’s happening with Bernie’s mom.”
“It depends on Mama and—and some other stuff,” Bernie chimed in. “Nice to have met you if I don’t make it back this time.”
“I hope everything works out OK. You all stay in touch.”
“Thank you,” Bernie said. “Come see us in Shiprock.”
Paul hung up, and Bernie snuggled closer. “I appreciate you not mentioning Sister.”
“I didn’t want to spoil our double date.”
Chee focused on passing the occasional RV or delivery truck and watching for animals on the road as he considered the problem with Paul’s vehicle. How could he explain in the simplest terms how to fix it in time for the morning tour? Maybe, just maybe, things would work out with Darleen and Mama, and he and Bernie could salvage some of their vacation before he had to go back to work.
Bernie hadn’t talked to any of her law enforcement contacts, he noticed. “Are you OK?” he asked.
“I guess,” she said. “I’m trying not to worry. I just want to sit here and think about this, figure out what comes next. Sister probably did something dumb, but I hope she’s OK. She said she’d give Mama more help while we were gone, and I trusted her. I shouldn’t have.”
Chee started to add that they didn’t know Darleen’s side of the story, but thought better of it.
They reached the turnoff for Many Farms and Mexican Water, Arizona. Just beyond that was the road that could have taken them north to Utah. A few minutes later, Chee read the big Welcome to New Mexico sign. It was interesting, he thought, that the state considered this obscure border important enough to mark. When they reached 491, with its big trucks roaring toward Gallup or the Colorado border, he turned south.
“I think I’ve come up with the start of a plan,” Bernie said. “Tell me what you think.”
“Go ahead.”
“My job is to make sure that Mama is safe. I should have been on top of this sooner. So I’m making a list of relatives I can call to give us some help or who might know somebody to stay with Mama. I’ll work on that, then deal with whatever trouble Darleen is in.”
She squeezed his hand. “And I thought some more about that guy with the boxes of dirt. Maybe instead of hiding something in the dirt, he was interested in the dirt itself—hunting for pot shards or charcoal from an old fire pit, or something like that. You can barely take a hike out here without running into an archaeological site.”
“Hmmmm.”
“That’s lame?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” He felt her shift, straightening her legs. “Thank you for coming home with me.”
“Every pretty girl needs a chauffeur.” But he heard her use the word home for her mother’s house. When would his house, their house, be home? Maybe with a kid or two playing outside?
Bernie pushed her hair behind her ears. “Did I tell you about those beer cans stacked up in Sister’s bedroom? I’ve seen her drunk when I’ve gone to Mama’s. One day she could barely get out of the car. I didn’t want to think about it, but now I have to. I should have been tougher on her. Maybe this will be a wakeup call. What do you think?”
He hesitated. “We don’t know what happened, except that your mother is home by herself, and that’s not a safe situation. You’re right to make Mama your top priority.”
“Sister should have called me, not just left Mama alone.”
“I agree. I could check on her, see what I can find out.” After his years in law enforcement, Chee knew most of the major players in the Four Corners.